August 15, 2011

I spent a beautiful pre-rains Saturday evening at Roanoke Vineyards this past weekend to attend the latest in their series of "Smackdown" events; events where wine industry folks blind taste wines head-to-head while attendees taste along with them.

It was great fun to see old friends, make new ones and meet journalist and author George Taber (pictured above center), who hosted the evening.

Blind tasting is hard. Very hard. And also extremely humbling. But, the panelist seemed to have fun with it, engaging playful trash talk throughout the evening.

Rather than give a blow-by-blow or sip-by-sip account, which I don't think would be that interesting for anyone who didn't attend, I thought I'd simply share some pictures from the evening.

August 05, 2011

"Not sure if it’s a first but its early. Syrah from the block adjacent to the Bedell Tasting room, it’s only the west facing row on the end, which I suspect is significant because it receives no shade from that side and long days make it sunnier than end rows facing the east."

July 06, 2011

"Here’s a picture of our Block 1 Chardonnay on Oregon Road being grafted over to Pinot Noir 777 and Pinot Noir 667 (2.2 acres), and Cabernet Franc #2 and Cabernet Franc #4 (2.3 acres) by a two man crew flown in from St. Helena, CA.

They can graft 500 vines per day and were the same crew that replaced an underperforming block of merlot with beautiful new malbec and petit verdot tops.

We’ll see fruit as soon as next year, and the survival rate of the vines is 90% or better. Any casualties are replaced next year."

The pinot will become a part of winemaker Greg Gove's new methode champenoise program (the first -- made in 2009 -- will be released in 2013). The cabernet franc will nearly double the winery's acreage of the grape.

November 16, 2010

My wife and I spent a peripatetic day racing down one side of Cayuga Lake, then through Ithaca, then up Seneca Lake and back to Cayuga. We had the chance to revisit some of the candidates for the New York Cork Report 2010 Finger Lakes Wines of the Year (more on this year's program this week, by the way).

I also was fortunate to convince some producers to stop long enough to chat, pour new wines and talk harvest.

Soon you'll see a handful of fresh stories as a result:

Changes at Damiani - in the wine and in the new tasting room

The story of the brand new Finger Lakes Wine Center in Ithaca

The profound success of the dessert wine program at Standing Stone

And that's just the beginning. Here are some images from a glorious fall day in the Finger Lakes - one that was packed with thirsty crowds at every stop.

Image 1: The new Damiani Wine Cellars tasting room, located directly next door to Finger Lakes Distilling, was so packed that the extra space downstairs had to be opened for visitors

Image 2:Atwater Estate Vineyards recently knocked down a wall in the tasting room to make space for an additional tasting bar -- which was only barely enough to handle the surge of Saturday tasters

Image three: A near-perfect sunset as seen from the east side of Seneca Lake

Image four: A group of customers decides there's nothing wrong with enjoying dessert first, as they close the long and successful day at Standing Stone Vineyards.

August 05, 2010

Pinot noir isn't the only grape going through veraison in New York. Syrah and malbec both are in the vineyards at Bedell Cellars.

Focusing specifically on the syrah, Bedell's vineyard manager Dave Thompson says "The season today is about 10 days to two weeks earlier than average -- but
it's no indication that we will ripen two weeks earlier. It all depends on
what the weather does over the next few weeks. Syrah is typically one of
the first to go through veraison and it goes through fast and with
lots of drama but it also needs a lot more time to ripen and it one of
the latest varieties we harvest. Our vineyard is poised and ready."

August 03, 2010

Two weeks ahead of the regular schedule,and four weeks ahead of last year.

Think winemaking doesn't change year-to-year? Growers in the Finger Lakes almost never see veraison in July, and yet some berries were already turning when August arrived. This shot was taken in one of the cooler (but meticulously maintained) vineyards in the region: Hobbit Hollow vineyard on Skaneateles Lake.

The fruit from this vineyard goes to some of the strongest producers in the region, including Ravines Wine Cellars and Heart & Hands Wine Company. Tom Higgins of Heart & Hands says this vineyard didn't reach this point of development until the very end of August in 2009.

This is the time of year when every day's weather plays an increasingly larger role in the story, but so far the season has almost been a dream. Producers will have the option of picking at varying stages of ripeness, assuming some wickedly cold weather doesn't muddle the remainder of the growing term.

July 05, 2010

It's easy to forget that fruit winemakers don't have the same schedule that grape winemakers do... but Carlo reminds us with this picture and a note saying:

"While many wineries' busy time of year is fall, many fruit winemakers are out already toiling at this time of year. Currant and raspberry season are at their high point. In the Hudson Valley, where cassis is one of the fastest-growing categories, and with good reason, Hudson-Chatham, Tousey, Brookview Station, and Clinton Vineyards are all in the middle of fruit wine production."

May 27, 2010

If you follow Heart & Hands Wine Company co-owners Tom Higgins and Susan Higgins on Twitter you already know this, but they've had a long week. You see, they planted their vineyard this week, so in a few years they'll being producing wine from estate-grown grapes.

This is a shot of one of their baby pinot vines overlooking Cayuga Lake as the sun sets.

May 10, 2010

I haven't been to every lake-view vineyard in the Finger Lakes...but it's hard to imagine there is any vineyard in the region that is more beautiful to stand in on a sunny Saturday morning than Argetsinger Vineyard on eastern Seneca Lake.

It's just a special place. One worthy of it's ever-growing legend. It doesn't hurt that Sammy Argetsinger is one of the more charming, interesting people I've ever met.